Rapid and Green Electric-Explosion Preparation of Spherical Indium Nanocrystals with Abundant Metal Defects for...

Electrochemical conversion of CO₂ into high-value-added chemicals has been considered a promising route to achieve carbon neutrality and mitigate the global greenhouse effect. However, the lack of highly efficient electrocatalysts has limited its practical application. Herein, we propose an ultrafast and green electric explosion method to batch-scale prepare spherical indium (In) nanocrystals (NCs) with abundant metal defects toward high selective electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction (CO₂RR) to HCOOH. During the electric explosion synthesis process, the Ar atmosphere plays a significant role in forming the spherical In NCs with abundant metal defects instead of highly crystalline In₂O₃ NCs formed under an air atmosphere. Analysis results reveal that the In NCs possess ultrafast catalytic kinetics and reduced onset potential, which is ascribed to the formation of rich metal defects serving as effective catalytic sites for converting CO₂ into HCOOH. This work provides a feasible strategy to massively produce efficient In-based electrocatalysts for electrocatalytic CO₂-to-formate conversion.